Hello!

Although I was born with a profound hearing loss in both ears, I have to say that it was a blessing in terms of how observant it has made me all of my life, and in terms of the talent it has lead me to develop in doing things with my hands.  When I was just a little boy, I spent more time in the garage with my father than I did outside playing with the neighborhood kids. I got my first set of real working kid’s tools for my 5th birthday, and started mastering construction from that day forward using any scrap of building material I could get my hands on. By age 9, I had my own space in the garage, and my first real workbench. While other kids were buying gifts for family members at Santa’s secret shop, I was building non-skid steps stools for my mother and grandmother so they could reach to the bottom of their washing machines, and a table for my dad to attach his band saw to; while other kids were climbing trees, I was building a tree house in one, and while other kids were playing video games, I was building my own computer. I came to loving building, disassembling, and assembling things. I am proud to say I went onto earn an Electrical Engineering degree from Penn State University, became the first hearing impaired student to graduate from their school of Engineering, and now have more than 10 years experience in the field. I have also regularly volunteered my time to my church’s REACH program (providing home repair/improvements to low income households) for the past 4 years, advancing from helper to a position of site-to-site troubleshooter, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. I feel blessed that I have had so many teachers work so hard to help me communicate verbally despite my hearing loss, and that my engineering mind, my problem solving abilities, and my jack-of-all-trades skills come so naturally to me.

I find fulfillment in helping others to protect and maintain their greatest investment. That’s me and that’s my handyman story.

                                                – Blake